The invention relates to an improved set of golf clubs, and more specifically, to an improved set of iron golf clubs having a common club weight, length and lie.
Under current rules of the United States Golf Association, the governing body of golf in the United States, a golfer is permitted to carry a maximum of fourteen clubs in his or her bag during a round of golf. Typically, a set of golf clubs will include a putter and three to four wood clubs and nine to ten iron clubs. In a conventional set, the length, lie and club weight for each of the golf clubs is different. Most manufacturers vary the individual club lengths by one half inch with the lowest number club having the longest length. For example, a typical nine iron is about 351/2 inches long, and a typical eight iron is about 36 inches long. A typical one iron is about 391/2 inches long.
In a typical set, the manufacturer, in addition to varying the length of each club in a set, also, varies the lie of each club. Longer irons have flatter lies, i.e. a smaller included angle between a plane parallel to the sole of the club and the longitudinal axis of the shaft than do shorter iron. For example, a nine iron is shorter and a more vertical club than a one iron. As can be appreciated, the golfer typically stands varying distances from the ball with different iron clubs. As also can be appreciated, because each iron club is different, the golfer will swing each club in a different fashion.
Typical golf clubs presently on the market present club heads of decreasing weight as the clubs get longer. For example, the head of a two iron will weigh less than the head of a nine iron.
Thus, in conventional sets marketed today, one sees that each club will have a different club head weight, different club shaft length, different lie and different total club weight. The combination of all these factors requires the golfer to take a different stance, and thus, a different swing, at least to some degree, for each club. As can be appreciated, this impedes achieving a high level of perfection since the golfer must train his muscles to "remember" (through muscle memory) at least thirteen different stances and swings so as to accommodate each golf club. It is only through long and dedicated practice that a golfer achieves a high level of competence which explains why most amateur golfers hit good and bad shots with the same club and why an amateur golfer will typically strike one or two clubs better than the remainder of the clubs in his or her bag.
In the past, persons have sought to overcome the abovementioned variables in golf club design. For example, U. S. Pat. No. 3,984,103 to Nix entitled "Matched Golf Club Set" which issued Oct. 5, 1976, discloses a set of golf clubs wherein both the woods and irons, have a common length and a common lie. As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,791 to Hull for a "Set of Golf Clubs" which issued July 14, 1987, discloses a set of golf clubs, comprising both woods and irons, having a common length, lie and weight.
While the sets of golf clubs disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,103 to Nix and U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,791 to Hull may comprise an improvement over conventional clubs now marketed, the clubs disclosed by both of these patents do not provide a set of clubs whereby for each club the trajectory, i.e. the flight pattern of the ball, matches that when struck by a conventional club.
More specifically, it has been found that when playing a set of golf clubs such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,791 to Hull, that the nine iron when properly struck flies extraordinarily high compared to the flight of a ball struck with a conventional nine iron. It has also been found for a set of golf clubs like those of Hull that a ball struck with a two iron (of the Hull set of clubs) travels in an extraordinarily low flight pattern when compared to a ball struck with a conventional two iron.
As can be appreciated, the difference in flight patterns between well struck shots with conventional clubs and well struck shots with clubs from a set of clubs such as those of Hull have caused golfers some concern. Golf courses are designed whereby, on occasion, golfers must carry the ball on the fly over a hazard for a great length. Consequently, a long iron (for example a two iron) that could not be well struck and achieve a height equal to that of a ball well struck with a conventional two iron is undesirable. In a like fashion, there occurs instances when a golfer wants to hit a higher lofted club, such as a nine iron, on a relatively low trajectory. If a well struck short iron, such as a nine iron, has a flight trajectory that is extraordinarily high, it can be appreciated that the shot may be unduly affected by wind or be unable to fly underneath tree limbs or the like. The ability to successfully hit a so-called "punch shot" with a pitching wedge or other greater lofted club of the Hull set of clubs is limited by the clubs themselves. It is therefore apparent that a set of golf clubs, such as those to Hull or Nix, has built-in disadvantages.